The scarcity of iron limits biological productivity and carbon uptake in
the nutrient rich waters of the Southern Ocean. This project will
explore for the first time the role of undersea "hot spot" volcanoes in
supplying iron to surface waters, thus linking the solid earth and the
biosphere. The team
will measure iron abundance, reactivity, and nutritional value in
buoyant plumes emanating from vents near Heard/McDonald Islands,
Australia's only active volcanoes. The project will estimate the
hydrothermal contribution to regional biological productivity and
extrapolate to the whole Southern Ocean.
This will benefit Australia by identifying iron sources that govern
productivity and carbon uptake of an economically important ecosystem.